God helped me through tough times: Monica Bedi

Monica Bedi has strong belief in god and feels it is this faith that helped her tide over tough times in jail after being deported from Portugal along with mobster Abu Salem. The Bollywood actress is now recording a devotional music album "Ek Omkaar" on chants from the Sikh holy book Guru Granth Sahib.Monica has had no professional training in singing.

"I have never taken any professional training in music and I never ever thought that I will sing for an album one day. But more than singing, this album is about chanting god's prayers and saying his words and I have sung it from my heart," Monica told IANS by phone from Mumbai.

Monica, who was last seen on reality show "Bigg Boss 2", began recording for the 40-minute albumin Mumbai last week. It is a compilation of revered chants from the Guru Granth Sahib and is being released by Universal Music.

Though the actress was nervous before entering the recording studio, she was more concerned about pronouncing the Punjabi words correctly.

"I am a fluent Punjabi speaker. But these chants were from the Guru Granth Sahib and were in proper Punjabi. It was almost like speaking Hindi words in Sanskrit. So that was a little tough but once I started, I was quite comfortable with it," she said.

This is not the first time that the actress has gone out of her way to show her spiritual side. In 2007, Monica, a Sikh by descent, went to the holiest of Sikh shrines, the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and cleaned utensils and shoes there to seek blessings for her future.

Monica, who was seen in films like "Jodi No.1', "Jaanam Samjha Karo" and "Pyaar, Ishq Aur Mohabbat" in her short-lived Bollywood career, said that she was able to overcome the trauma that she went through after being caught with gangster Abu Salem "only because god was by my side".

"I am a strong believer in god. In my tough times, I used to seek comfort by offering prayers to god only. My message to people through this music album is that we cannot doubt god; He really exists and He does listen to our prayers. You just have to surrender to Him at times and then He would give you the strength to cope with your hardships," she said.